1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a TV program distribution system for distributing a pay TV program and to a TV broadcast signal receiving device for receiving the pay TV program distributed from the TV program distribution system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a TV (television) program distribution system for distributing pay TV programs, it is known to adopt a conditional access system (CAS). The conditional access system is a system such that TV broadcast signals of certain TV programs are scrambled, and that only viewers with a pay or viewing contract can descramble the scrambled signals for TV program viewing.
Among pay TV programs provided by TV program providers, there exists a TV program that would not be necessarily required to be distributed to many viewers, and that could maintain a high market value by limiting the number of viewers that can watch or access the TV program. However, in a conventional TV program distribution system, viewers who wish to watch a pay TV program can watch the TV program without limitation in the number of viewers after they enter a viewing contract with the TV program provider. Accordingly, a TV program provider providing such pay TV program as described above cannot necessarily obtain a sufficient profit according to its market value.
On the other hand, as a system for distributing e.g. a TV program, there is known a system such that e.g. a producer of the TV program sells the TV program to customers by distributing the content of the TV program via a communication line (refer to e.g. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication 2002-354454). There is also known a system such as to distribute a TV program by using a license ID (identification) which is required for recording or reproducing the TV program (refer to e.g. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication 2002-157368).
In the market of tangible goods, a so-called auction system is known as a method of selling a product at a price according to market value, in which the product is sold to a buyer who bids the highest price among participating buyers. However, in the market of intangible goods such as TV programs, in which a product having the same content can be distributed to unspecified number of viewers simultaneously, an auction system is not being used for selling.